Richard L. Fowler Sr., 88, teacher, restaurant owner

January 01, 2003

Richard L. Fowler Sr., who owned a roadside custard-and- burger restaurant in southwestern Baltimore County before becoming an elementary school teacher, died from a stroke Saturday at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. The Relay resident was 88.

Born and raised in Yonkers, N.Y., Mr. Fowler graduated with honors from high school but couldn't afford college, family members said.

He worked at a grocery store and for a stockbroker before taking a correspondence class in mechanical drawing. He finished the class as World War II began.

FOR THE RECORD - Richard L. Fowler Sr.: An obituary for teacher and restaurant owner Richard L. Fowler Sr. that appeared in Wednesday's editions was missing a line of type in the listing of his survivors.Mr. Fowler is survived by two sons, Richard L. Fowler Jr. of Miami and Jeffrey H. Fowler of Baltimore; a daughter, Audrey Alta Fowler of Baltimore; four grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter. The Sun regrets the error.

During World War II, he moved to Baltimore and worked in mechanical drawing for the tool and die and airplane manufacturing departments of the former Glenn L. Martin aircraft company in Middle River.

After the war, while working at the aircraft company, he and his wife, the former Alta Harriet Fredrickson, opened Fowler's Frozen Custard in Halethorpe. The restaurant moved to Arbutus before it closed in the late 1950s when the land was cleared for the Baltimore Beltway, family members said.

Mr. Fowler started college at age 46, first at then-Catonsville Community College and later at what is now Towson University, where he graduated in 1964.

He became a fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade teacher at Lansdowne Elementary School and returned to Towson to get his master's degree. He retired from Lansdowne in 1979.

Mrs. Fowler, his wife of 57 years, died in 1999.

Services will be held at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow at Halethorpe Relay United Methodist Church.

Mr. Fowler is survived by two sons, Richard L. Fowler Jr. of Miami and Jeffrey H. Fowler of Baltimore; his daughter, Audrey Alta Fowler of Baltimore; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.